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I am alive!
Just letting you all know.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Saturday, April 11th, 2009
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It is 3:10 am as I write this. I haven't slept more than three consecutive hours in what feels like an eternity, but really is probably about a month now.
I want college to end so badly.
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
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Your result for The General Secretary is tired of your shenanigans!...
Good Comrade!The General Secretary doesn't suspect you of much. 
You're certainly loyal! A clever little lapdog with enough Paranoia to understand how to keep out of trouble. You would most certainly deal bribes to interrogators, drop names of friends in high places, and appear uninterested in anti-government plots. You certainly don't have any Shenanigans up your sleeve, and you make Brother proud. Keep on grinding those gears in the factory. The Soviet state doesn't power itself you know!
Take The General Secretary is tired of your shenanigans! at HelloQuizzy
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Monday, February 23rd, 2009
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So I'm taking Spanish. Big deal, right? Lots of people take Spanish. Piece of cake.
Not so much. I have learned that I am incapable of retaining any Spanish at all. No matter how much I study and how many times I do the exercises, I can't remember any of it when I have to actually speak or write it. I can read Spanish fairly well. Give me some text and I'll be able to read it and understand it. But I just can't, by any stretch of the imagination, say or write anything meaningful. When I go into class every Monday and Wednesday, just to have my inadequacy thrown in my face, it breaks my spirit. Also, it doesn't help matters that I was stuck going through the first month of the semester without half the materials.
See, I took Spanish I last semester. That teacher, Dr. Madero, told us that he wasn't going to use the workbook or lab workbook that comes in the $207.15 package. Instead, he told us to order the textbook alone online for about $80. Don't worry, he said, about Spanish II because any teacher in their right mind wouldn't use that stuff, and it wouldn't be fair to do so.
Enter Spanish II. I'm told that I need the workbook and lab workbook. Well, where do I get those, says I. The teacher tells me they sell the package in the bookstore. But I already have the textbook, I just need the workbooks. Is there any way to buy those without buying the textbook again? No, no there isn't. Not even from the distributor apparently.
So I spend the first month of the semester without enough money to buy the textbook package for this class. Oh well, I'll survive, I thought. I did well enough last semester.
Not so much, really. This woman does all of her tests, quizzes, and assignments from the workbooks. Everything that is graded work comes out of those workbooks. So I have to wait for the financial aid refund checks to come in. And I wait, and I suffer, and I don't score above a 50 on any assignment until I get that check and go to buy the workbooks. I try to convince the bookstore to let me buy the workbooks alone. They tell me they can't do that. I wave my textbook in their face saying, I have one of these, I just need those! They tell me to buy it and leave, or not buy it and leave, or else they'll call security on me. I say some hurtful things about them and end up paying $207.15 for a textbook I have.
Then I start using the workbooks, only to find out I'm not retaining any Spanish at all. No matter how much I do the homework and even the little exercises in the textbook, none of the Spanish is sticking in my head.
In conclusion, I just managed to spend almost $300 (remember the standalone textbook cost about $80) on a class I won't pass on a language I can't learn. Rad.
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Comments: Read 3 or Add Your Own.
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Monday, February 2nd, 2009
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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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Saturday, January 24th, 2009
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It's that magical time of year again. My classes have started up and now it's time for my brief predictions on how they'll go.
Spanish II is going to suck like hell. The woman teaching it is a humorless bat.
Elementary Stats is also going to suck like hell, mostly because I'm terrible with numbers.
Oral French is actually looking to be pretty good, as long as I can figure out how to do the online homework. Other than that, it's going to be fun. Madame Spencer is really cool and I'm fairly certain she'll keep me from failing.
Stalinism looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. The professor's cool and the class is a lot of fun. The only problem is the 20 page final paper...
Historical Jesus with Dr. Scott Morschauser is going to be a lot of fun, I think. I'm hoping to come out of that relatively unscathed.
PROJECTED GPA FOR THE SEMESTER: 3.1
And now, a meme!
( Danger! High Voltage! )
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
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Brian Kenny's 2008 in Review
January - Oh holy crap Ireland is warm, also I miss my family terribly
February - Ireland's still warm, but these people are awesome
March - I love Ryanair! Also, RAG week is the coolest thing in the world!
April - Rain rain rain rain
May - Ireland is gorgeous and warm. Also, I'm home now
June - Need a job
July - Delivering pizzas? Right up my alley!
August - Delivering pizzas is great. Also, student loans are a pain in the ass
September - Ahh, back to Rowan, this is awesome
October - What the hell, $5000 refund check? Sweet!
November - Happy Birthday to Me!
December - It's cold. Finals suck. However, Christmas is cool.
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Friday, November 28th, 2008
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I can't sleep. I think I'm going to pull an all nighter. This doesn't bode well for the rest of my weekend. I'm going to need to pass out again at about 10 am and wake up at 3 to accomplish anything I've set out to do before I head out. Good God, why, why did I drink so much coffee? I knew I'd be working on my paper till late, but not 4:22 in the morning.
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I think school's going to kill me.
It's not that the work is overpowering or anything, it's just that I get far more stressed about it than I should. Normally, I'm fine, level, whatever. My baseline stress is perhaps just slightly higher than the average person. But the minute I have anything even minorly stressful on my plate, my anxiety spikes. I can feel my pulse in the throbbing forehead vein I've just discovered (well, temple vein. But still, it's throbbing rather rapidly). I think I'm going to talk to a school counselor guy about controlling my anxiety, and maybe even talk to him about all the crushing inadequacey I'm plagued by (but probably not. I may not have my sanity or my blood pressure, but I've still got my pride, damnit)
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, November 13th, 2008
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My birthday has come and gone.
Overall, it was enjoyable, but rather unremarkable
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Comments: Read 1 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
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So Barack Obama will be our new president when he is sworn in in January.
I voted for John McCain.
Strangely, I'm not upset. This election was the opposite of the 2004 election. It wasn't two people who were rather unsuited to the job vying for it. John McCain and Barack Obama are both very qualified, very good men. This wasn't a "lesser of two evils," this was "the greater of two greats." Frankly, for America, this was the best election we could've had, considering the last eight years.
I wish President-elect Obama the best in the next four years, and I congratulate Senator McCain for a worthy effort.
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Thursday, October 30th, 2008
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Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
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Thursday, October 9th, 2008
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So apparently when I filled out my loan applications for this year, I did the math wrong and came out with a ~$5000 refund for this semester. The prudent, responsible thing to do would be to take a little bit and then send the rest back to the loan company. But then, this is me we're talking about here, so with my newly-acquired-until-I-pay-for-it-in-the-future wealth, I intend to buy a car because I figure that it's harder for a 20 year old to get a car loan than student loans, and I'm not going to get a chance like this until after I graduate. To that end, I've been looking around at used car reviews online and I've come to two choices:
2001 or 2002 Ford Focus (preferably the hatchback model)
vs.
2001 Chevy Cavalier (4-door sedan)
From what I've read and from people who own them, both cars are pretty sturdy, pretty cheap, and pretty good on gas. For example, Jay's Cavalier (2001) cost him about $2500 and has only been in the shop once for anything serious, meanwhile his sister's Focus (2002) has been a dream to own and operate.
So, people of the Internet, I ask you for your input! Focus, Cavalier, or Something Else?
(Also, a side thought: if I had known it was this easy to scam $5000 from the loan companies, I'd have done it years ago)
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Comments: Read 5 or Add Your Own.
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Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
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The first round of the Rowan Plague has hit, and it kicked me in the nads. My head is all kinds of stuffed up and congested and whatnot. Luckily, it's just a really bad head cold, so no aching joints, hacking up lungs, or vomiting out my insides.
If anyone has any kind of folksy "straight from the Old Country" remedies for the cold, they'd be greatly appreciated
EDIT: The "hacking up lungs" phase has begun. This sucks
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Monday, September 29th, 2008
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Sunday, September 28th, 2008
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1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next seven sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.
6. Tag five other people to do the same.
"In Utopia, they have a six-hour working day -- three hours in the morning, then lunch -- then a two-hour break -- then three more hours in the afternoon, followed by supper. They go to bed at 8 p.m., and sleep for eight hours. All the rest of the twenty-four they're free to do what they like -- not to waste their time in idleness or self-indulgence, but to make good use of it in some congenial activity. Most people spend these free periods on further education, for there are public lectures first thing every morning. Attendence is quite voluntary, except for those picked out for academic training, but men and women of all classes go crowding in to hear them -- I mean, different people go to different lectures, just as the spirit moves them. However, there's nothing to stop you from spending this extra time on your trade, if you want to. Lots of people do, if they haven't the capacity for intellectual work, and are much admired for such public-spirited behaviour."
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brianamos's journal